Kira's Performances
| Storytelling Programs | Music | Workshops | People Say... |
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Storytelling
Kira Van Deusen is a professional storyteller and cellist based in Vancouver, Canada. She travelled extensively in Siberia's forests, tundra, and steppe over the 15 years beginning shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union, and connected with indigenous traditions, stories, and people—their lives, history, spirituality, and sense of humour. She delights listeners in Canada, the US, Europe, and Russia with adventures in worlds we do not see with the eye, accompanied by her evocative original cello and vocal music.
In 2004 Kira travelled in all three regions of Nunavut with filmmaker John Houston, recording the Inuit legend of the great shaman-hero Kiviuq. Forty elders shared the story and graciously gave permission for Kira to retell it in English. She now performs the story with original music. Her Siberian and Inuit stories ring with authenticity, coming directly through the oral tradition.
She has performed at Storytelling Festivals and Concert Series in Vancouver, Whitehorse, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Halifax, and St. John’s, many times as featured teller, as well as in many other events since 1991.
She and other storytellers have cooperated with the Taiwanese-Canadian Cultural Society over several years, presenting traditional stories of aboriginal Taiwanese peoples as well as Chinese and Japanese stories told in Taiwan. In English and in a bi-lingual format together with Taiwanese tellers.
Booking Information (e-mail Kira)
Audio and video clips:
Inuit story of Kiviuq: Audio clip of Beewoman; Audio clip of The Fox-wife.
Listen to an audio recording of the Tuvan tale "The Igil".
recorded at the Newman Wine Vaults in St John's Newfoundland by CBC Radio (audio requires Mac users to install Quicktime if you don't have it).
Video clip of "The Birth of Hanuman" from the Ramanyana.
"You radiate, actually glow, from within—it's beautiful to experience your voice/cellovoice/story coalescing, weaving magic, lifting listeners into travelling with you. Really transformative." Helen May, Vancouver storyteller.
"Kira explores ancient forms of storytelling in an avant-garde way. She revisits epics and myths of Siberian and Inuit oral literature, and weaves a framework of brilliantly original cello music around the mysteries and distilled wisdom these stories express." Dan Yashinsky, Storyteller's School of Toronto
Storytelling Programs Offered
General Programming and Epic Evenings
The Northern Stories
Shamanistic and animal power tales are full of transformations. A mother turns into a wolf to rescue her daughter, a tiger turns into a man and teaches a boy how to be a good hunter. A girl grows from a plant and a man learns to understand the languages of the animals. A shaman hero marries twice in the animal world, with an arctic fox and a Canada Goose. These are animals and birds “temporarily in human form”! The tales come from nomadic Turkic-language peoples who were already herding cattle in the time of Genghis Khan, hunting peoples of the taiga that they share with the Siberian tiger, and from arctic reindeer breeders and sea hunters on the Siberian side as well as Canadian Inuit hunters.
The stories help acquaint children and adults with northern cultures and open the door to discussion of ecological problems, relationships between people and animals, shape-shifting, the process of story-collecting, and the fate of indigenous peoples and their languages today. Their stories show how people have not only survived but lived well in environments that are often harsh - sustained by their families, their beliefs, and their sense of humor.
For Children
Tales from the North — Stories about people and animals, and the ways they interact in a northern environment — ways that involve both magic and extraordinary cleverness. Grades one and up. Programs of various lengths and content as needed.
Taiwanese Folk Tales — Stories reflecting the lives of Taiwan’s many peoples over the ages. May be told bi-lingually withing Vancouver area.
For Teens and Adults
Stories about Storytellers — Tales of legendary storytellers in cultures from Asia and Europe, how they found the gift, the dangers they encountered, and the ways they passed their stories on. Epic tellers often undergo initiation similar to a shaman’s, and use music to call upon the spirit of story.
Tales of Animals and People — Some of the most powerful and endearing stories involve our relationships with animals. These are stories of friendship, marriage, shape-shifting and more.
The Hero’s Journey — Tales that follow the classic journey to bring back a loved one, to find treasure, to save one’s own soul.
Listen to an audio recording of the Tuvan tale "The Igil".
recorded at the Newman Wine Vaults in St. John's Newfoundland by CBC Radio (audio requires Mac users to install Quicktime if you don't have it.)
Epic Evenings
Kiviuq’s Journey—An Inuit Hero’s Epic Quest
One of the most ancient and beloved legends of the Inuit people. The great shaman hero has inspired generations with his terrifying adventures at sea, his meetings with strange beings, kindness to orphans, service to community, and his marriages with animals and birds. In 2004, traveling in Nunavut, Kira listened to forty Inuit elders, each telling this great epic in an individual way. Every telling was full of depth and humour and illuminated this ancient story in new ways. With the blessing of the elders, she has created this performance from the richness of material they offered her, adding cello music inspired by this story of epic adventure and by the great landscapes of the Canadian north. Two and a half hours with break. Also available in a shorter version for schools.
Listen to the story of Kiviuq and Bee Woman!
Listen to the story of Kiviuq meets his Fox Wife!
Woman of Steel
Long before the days of Genghis Khan, women warriors were fighting battles on the Asian steppes to protect family and friends. The warrior's spiritual path leads to an opening of the heart, allowing the bold and compassionate heroine to defeat her enemies, restore peace and prosperity to the land, find her life's partner, and bring her father back to life. Tuva is a small republic located at the center of Asia, world-famous for throat-singing and shamanism. Woman of Steel is one of Tuva's best-loved epic tales. Two hours, with break. This story inspired the music in Mountain Journey.
The Horsetail Girl — A Sakha Tale
From the centre of Siberia, the story of a girl born in a plant and transformed into human form by an old shaman woman. This girl was sent from heaven to share her wisdom and beauty with people. On the way to her wedding with the brave hunter, Harzhit Bergen, an evil spirit stole her face and took her place. Will the destined lovers be reunited? This story is central to the spiritual life of the Sakha people. One hour, with break.
World Epic
A program of stories selected from Arabian Nights, Mabinogion, Monkey King (Journey to the West), Kalavala, Tibetan Gesar, Tuvan epic, the Irish Fiana, Ramayana of India. May include other storytellers when offered within the Vancouver area.
Here's a video clip of "The Birth of Hanuman" from the Ramanyana.
Active in Canada’s storytelling scene, Kira has organized several of Vancouver’s “Epic Weekends” which involve 25-30 storytellers sharing a long story over a period of three days. In 2010 we will tell the West African story of Sundiata. This will take place April 16-18. Contact Kira for more information.
Cello music for walking the labyrinth. Improvisations based on the ancient walk and on the energies of those present.
Kira is also a member of Trio Allegra, with Zelko Krakan (violin) and Ruel Morales (guitar), playing, Spanish, Latin, East European and classical music. Available for concerts and events. Please visit the trio on their MySpace page.
Workshops
Improvisational Music
No musical background necessary! Experience the joys of self-expression through musical sound.
Improvisational Music for Storytellers
For storytellers at all levels who would like to add a touch of music to their telling. Play with improvised sounds and rhythms using mainly the voice. Bring instruments if you have them. Then we’ll discuss and experiment with how a teller can use music to enhance a storytelling, as well as some of the ways it can go astray. Music can add atmosphere or provide a rest for absorbing story details. We’ll also discuss the process of storytellers and musicians working together.
Shamanism and Storytelling
An exploration of the connection between these ancient arts.
Educational background
Kira Van Deusen brings to professional storytelling and music a background which includes a BA in Russian Language and Literature from Cornell University and an MA in Folklore/Ethnography from Antioch University. She has done extensive research with indigenous people in Siberia and the Russian Far East. She has completed a three year course in improvisational music through "Music for People" and David Darling. Kira lives in Vancouver, Canada.
| Storytelling Programs | Music | Workshops | People Say... |
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